Setting up Your Premiere Project
When starting a project there are many options that will govern the
way Premiere will look at your footage. These are very important if
you want to have the best quality you can in your video. So, I'll quickly
demonstrate the options you should use for different kinds of projects.
Premiere has some default settings but I'm going to completely ignore
those so when asked what setting you want, choose Custom and we will
make our own - just to make sure all the settings are right :)
These options are for software editing - if you have special hardware
that can do things like real-time previews then consult your manual
for the best options.
1) Settings For Editing Regular Interlaced NTSC Footage
General:
Editing Mode - Video for Windows
Timebase - 29.97
Time Display - 30fps Drop-Frame Timecode
Video Settings:
Compressor - This is the codec that will be used to generate previews.
Choose something fast, that means NOT cinepak :) I recommend the PICvideo
codec as explained earlier.
Frame Size 720 x 480
Frame Rate - 29.97
Pixel Aspect Ratio - Square Pixels (you should set square pixels for
your footage too using Clip Properties)
Audio Settings:
Rate - 44Khz
Format - 16bit stereo
Compressor - Uncompressed
Interleave - 1 Frame
Enhanced Rate Conversion - Best
I don't use logarithmic fades but note well that whatever you choose
here should be chosen in the export settings otherwise it will sound
different, just like if you choose different video options it will look
different.
Keyframe and Rendering:
Optimise Stills
Preview From Disk
Fields - this section is very important.
You should really check what the field order of your source is before
you start. How? Easy...
DVD Footage - Download BitrateViewer
as can read field order from vob files. IF YOU SELECTED SWAP FIELDS
IN DVD2AVI then the field order will now be the opposite of what bitrate
viewer told you. OK? It is very important to get this right. Standard
DVDs are Top First (which mean Bottom First if you selected swap fields)
but some DVDs are weird so it's worth checking.
Alternative method (can be used for non dvd footage) - Download the
latest version of TMPGenc and
start it up. A Wizard will popup at the start (it can also be loaded
via File > Project Wizard), choose a DVD option and go to the 2nd
page. Load in one of your source files and it will detect the field
order of your editing files for you.
2) Settings For Editing Progressive (FILM) Footage:
General:
Editing Mode - Video for Windows
Timebase - 24
Time Display - 24fps Timecode
Notice that Premiere does not have an option for 23.976 fps footage.
This is because it sucks. This is the reason why you should change all
your footage to 24fps if you have done IVTC, otherwise Premiere doesn't
have a timebase for it which will mess up your edits. Editing in 23.98fps
is even worse than loading 23.976fps footage into a 24fps project (confused
yet?)
To read a 23.976fps avi file as 24fps, use the AVIfrate program included
in the AMVapp. For avisynth scripts add the
line AssumeFPS(24) at the end.
So, for progressive footage, always edit 24fps footage with a 24fps
project. For more information on this, and how best to use 23.976fps
sources, see this page.
Video Settings:
Compressor - This is the codec that will be used to generate previews.
Choose something fast, that means NOT cinepak :) I recommend the PICvideo
codec as explained earlier. MJPEG
codes are super quick, especially on modern systems and can give almost
realtime speeds when set at low quality (5 to 10)
Frame Size 720 x 480
Frame Rate - 24
Pixel Aspect Ratio - Square Pixels (you should set square pixels for
your footage too using 'Clip Properties')
Audio Settings: see above
Keyframe and Rendering:
Optimise Stills, Preview From Disk
Fields - None.
Note: this is something else people get wrong sometimes. If
you set a field order and you are using progressive footage, when you
do effects Premiere will interlace your footage for you... which is
bad :)
OK, that should be all.
AbsoluteDestiny - October 2002
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